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Kumbh Mela { 94 images } Created 5 Aug 2010

April 2010. Haridwar, India. The Kumbh Mela draws to a close.
For hundred days, from dawn to dusk, tens of millions of pilgrims arrived to free their sins bathing in the holy waters of river Ganges.
They gathered from all over the country to attend this eternal ritual that cancels time and space, equalizes ethnicity and castes.
A slow, incessant, growing procession of ordinary people has transformed the Kumbh Mela in the largest human gathering the world ever recorded.
Tha aim of this book is to challenge the archetypical depiction of the festival showing the Sadhus, the holy men and point the lenses to the vastness of Kumbh Mela from the perspective of the silent multitude of Indian people with no holy credentials, that make it.
This book is dedicated to the people of India, the silent majority that attends the Kumbh Mela.
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  • Kumbh Mela. Sunrise over the closing date
    Kumbh Mela 1.jpg
  • Hundred of thousand of pilgrims converge at the gaths. The main Har-Ki-Pauri gath is overcrowded at dawn, on the most auspicious bathing dates.
    Kumbh Mela 2.jpg
  • Chains hang from the bridges to help bathers holding in the fast-flowing waters. Several people drawn every Kumbh Mela.
    Kumbh Mela 3.jpg
  • Two women contemplate on the porch of one of the temples overlooking the river
    Kumbh Mela 4.jpg
  • Ablutions, worship and rituals carry on along the riverbanks. The Kalsaha, a metal pot, is filled with water to represent the life giving ability of nature.
    Kumbh Mela 5.jpg
  • A girl splashes the River Ganges sacred water onto her face.
    Kumbh Mela 7.jpg
  • Wife and husband bless their wedding with a brave dip in the cold waters of the Early morning. Upanishads say married people have to take bath twice daily.
    Kumbh Mela 8.jpg
  • Hands hold firmly to resist the gush.
    Kumbh Mela 22.jpg
  • A modern girl baths among a group of men. Contemporary and traditional India get together in the water.
    Kumbh Mela 6.jpg
  • The heat, the sun, the feast and moments of joy erupt in ebullient water games.
    Kumbh Mela 21.jpg
  • A man proud and purified after the Ganga snan, the holy bath.
    Kumbh Mela 9.jpg
  • A young girl gets changed after her bath.
    Kumbh Mela 10.jpg
  • Two women spread a saree in the morning sun to let it dry.
    Kumbh Mela 11.jpg
  • A man in the crowd. Pilgrims come from all over India to attend the Kumbh Mela.
    Kumbh Mela 12.jpg
  • A mother proud to show off her daughter.
    Kumbh Mela 13.jpg
  • A charity group offers free food to poor people. Mass feeding is one of traditional Kumbh Mela practices.
    Kumbh Mela 14.jpg
  • Men hold their hands in contemplation. The morning prayers prepare to the coming day offering the actions to God.
    Kumbh Mela 15.jpg
  • A whole family travelled to Haridwar for the special event. Pilgrimage is a Hindu tradition reported for the first time in the sacred Rigveda hymns dated back to 1500 BC.
    Kumbh Mela 16.jpg
  • The whole Har-Ki-Pauri area is filled to capacity and set alight by thousands of light bulbs as soon as the sun sets.
    Kumbh Mela 23.jpg
  • The Aarti of Goddess Ganga opens, the Pandits set fire to the oil lamps.
    Kumbh Mela 17.jpg
  • One of the Aarty plates, held by a priest, is reverenced by a woman.
    Kumbh Mela 18.jpg
  • River banks at night spring up of pilgrims preparing to spend the night on the ground. Most traveller sleep on the street rather than checking into a hotel.
    Kumbh Mela 24.jpg
  • Hundreds of travellers camp out in front of the station entrance, waiting for their train.
    Kumbh Mela 19.jpg
  • A man sleeps on the platform with his plastic jerry can filled up with the Ganges' holy water.
    Kumbh Mela 20.jpg
  • Kumb Mela - Haridwar India, 2010
    Kumbh Mela 2010 1.jpg
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